iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

As an Egyptian I believe I can claim for my country the ownership of the U.S. Senate as the largest mummies warehouse in existence.

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

More and more I’m thinking that a “blue wave” in the midterms isn’t just probable, but necessary. A needful, resounding course correction perhaps in the mold of the last Hungarian election.

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Looks like Saudi Arabia is now bearing the brunt of the US and Israel to achieve their purported goals in going to war with Iran.

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I have a great deal of respect for Prof Mearsheimer’s past scholarship. And his views on Russia have been quite consistent for decades. And yet I think propagating Russian talking points, as he does here, is a mistake. m.youtube.com/watch?v=M0Mp...

m.youtube.com

Episode 8: The Russia I Saw

YouTube video by John Mearsheimer - Offensive Realism

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

It’s not just in Germany. Political amnesia is autocrats’ god-send.

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

L’Arc d’Hormuz — that is the more apt name for the thing. «Qu'y a-t-il dans un nom ?»

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

An excellent point! Microsoft, Apple and others are pushing us to use half-baked AI while their calendar apps remain barely functional. It truly is bizarre when one pauses to reflect on it.

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

As someone who grew up in a village in the Nile Delta, I wholeheartedly agree. Yet I think Booker is a good man and even this bit of performative politics can be in honoring and elevation of farmers. Perhaps.

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

A case to watch. The argument that your data is “property,” open to government seizure and inspection, has limitations. For one thing, this type of property encompasses everything. It’s liable to prosecutorial abuse. 1/2

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Presidents of Finland and Germany issue a proposal, and an invite, for a Helsinki-style process in the Middle East, arguing that, as in cold-war era, trust wouldn’t be a prerequisite for success. 1/ www.ft.com/content/3485...

ft.com

The Middle East needs its own Helsinki Act

Trust is not a prerequisite for peacemaking — and Iran and its neighbours should follow the example of cold war détente

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

I study and write about the Gulf states, and I find myself increasingly thinking that only a collective regional approach to Hormuz management can ameliorate the vulnerability it poses to everyone, in the region and beyond. 🧵 1/ www.nytimes.com/2026/07/19/w...

nytimes.com

A Modest Proposal for the Strait Dispute: A Shared Pact Among Gulf States

A London-based research group has invoked a now-defunct European pact on coal and steel to suggest forming a coalition of countries that would share control of the Strait of Hormuz.

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Reposted by Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

It’s always been arrogant to assume that we can predict even most of the costs of #ClimateChange. Let alone presume that we can properly quantify them, and successfully adapt to them. A key word with a lot of our climate failure is arrogance. Along with selfishness and greed. #ClimateCrisis

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

“They want sovereignty without democracy, Judaism without morality, power without restraint, and land without Palestinians.” (This captures the modus operandi of extremists in other faith traditions as well.) From the moral authority that is Gershon Baskin.

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Shocking but not surprising. MAHA lunacy meets pseudoscience meets the manosphere meets culture wars meeting pervasive incompetence of 47 & co. As warfare transforms before our eyes—in Ukraine, Iran and elsewhere—this pretender is obsessed with the bench press and “bulking.“

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Indeed, the electability “argument” seems to have the triple-stink of being simultaneously vacuous, racially tinged AND patronizing toward voters.

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

“All-hat-no-cattle“ and MOUs of ambiguity — brilliant!

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

In most cases, most of the time, bureaucratic mistakes/crimes can be explained by incompetence rather than malice. Not in this case. Conditions of ICE arrests and detention seem intended to maximize casualties. “Self-deport or die“ is Stephen Miller’s proposition to (undocumented) immigrants.

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

RIP! Influential figure and mixed (if enlightening) legacy.

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Reposted by Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي

Sharan Grewal @sharangrewal.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

The head of Tunisia's Truth and Dignity Commission, which investigated crimes committed by the previous dictatorship, is now imprisoned by the next dictatorship.

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

“Yet if there is any lesson from the four years of death and devastation, since Israel elected the most far-right government in its history, it is that even seemingly small ideological and dispositional differences are a matter of life and death.” www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

haaretz.com

What Israel's upcoming election means for the world

European Leaders and U.S. Political Elites Yearn for Israeli Voters to Turn the Page on Netanyahu and the Gaza War. But Netanyahu's Allies in the Global Far Right Are Not Merely Watching From the Side...

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

From the U.S. side, the single denial of the claims in the article comes from an anonymous White House official. It’s unclear to me why anonymity was granted. NYTimes should‘ve insisted on naming the source of denial (of, apparently, an official report) or just said the WH refused to comment.

nytimes.com

Pentagon Sees Growing Espionage Threat From Israel

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Reposted by Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي

Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Another case of an IDF infantry veteran confirming that during the opening phase of the Gaza war, formal Rules of Engagement were not issued at all, creating a vacuum where some tactical commanders told their units to kill all “military-aged males” on sight. www.economist.com/interactive/...

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

With global attention focused elsewhere, Erdogan is back to a familiar playbook. Like autocrats everywhere, he likes choosing his own challengers. he might also be considering a Putin-Medvedev-style stunt to bypass term limits. uk.news.yahoo.com/opposition-c...

uk.news.yahoo.com

Opposition chaos may push Turkey's Erdogan towards snap poll: analysts

A court-ordered ouster of Turkey's main opposition leadership has left the party in chaos, exposing deep divisions that analysts say could benefit President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in any early elections...

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Reposted by Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي

Dr. Aaron Thierry @thierryaaron.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

You can get to a high-warming world without high emissions . That's the part of this week's "RCP 8.5 is implausible" discussion that's getting missed. A short thread on why the relief is premature 🧵

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Or: the Netanyahu coalition knows it has crossed a point of no turn with int’l public opinion in 2024 on account of Gaza. And since then the priorities have been Bebe’s survival, keeping the “base” in the fold, and sustaining biblical hallucinations as a political project by the extreme right.

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Except when there is civil war, I never understand what writers mean when they describe a country as “ungovernable.” To my ears it sounds like a people have ceased to be capable of politics and have switched to pre-society. Which is technically infeasible. —>

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Truly excellent — revealing more about bureaucracies and policy responses to major catastrophes/failures than about Tulsi G and her largely invisible stint. www.thebulwark.com/p/tulsi-gabb...

thebulwark.com

Tulsi Gabbard’s Office Shouldn’t Exist

And her tenure in it proves exactly why.

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

yes, Democrats can’t have it both ways — propose themselves as the bulwark against autocracy, but also be so apathetic and incompetent in combating the threat.

nytimes.com

Opinion | The Agony Around the Democrats’ Mysterious, Ridiculous Autopsy

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

The DNC “autopsy“ of what went wrong in the 2024 presidential election has finally been released. And it resembles the problem it examines in at least one fundamental respect: shocking incompetence. m.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Lt...

m.youtube.com

BREAKING: DNC Chair Ken Martin FINALLY Releases 2024 Autopsy Report

YouTube video by Pod Save America

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

This piece is excellent for many reasons. But it has a weakness: it only gives a passing nod to the important implication that Ahmadinejad may have spied for Israel. Given the reporters had access to Ahmedinjad people, they should’ve asked them and explored this further.

nytimes.com

Early War Goal Was to Install Hard-Line Former President as Iran’s Leader

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

i think it would be a brilliant move if the next general election is turned — as apparently Wes Streeting envisions — into a referendum on rejoining the EU. This might be Labor’s best shot to halt Farage’s ascendancy. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.com

Wes Streeting confirms he will stand if Labour leadership race is triggered

Ex-health secretary sets out fledgling policy platform – including call for new special relationship with EU

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

How dreadful that cynical man has claimed the word reform for his latest foray into political partying. Now all us must say “reform” whenever we refer to the outfit of an authoritarian, allegedly corrupt political hack.

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

A smart and necessary piece linking the scholarship on rights claiming to AI. For one thing, it reminds us anew that individuals, communities and governments do have power over AI development— and not just OpenAI and co.

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

This is a very sad story. Its causes are plain to nearly all in academia: little or no recognition for yrs of work, constant competition for jobs, grants and awards, near constant rejection in publishing endeavors, and how academic celebrity can catapult you ahead of all of those woes.

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Democrats should call it the Hormuz Tax, the blanket increase in prices. And compare the situation now to 2012 when Iran threatened to close the “straits” but a competent White House averted that. Leon Panetta, then Def Sec, documents this in detail on his book Worthy Fights.

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Point # 2 is indeed crucial and is perhaps the more difficult task going forward. For decades the Court and its Nine have been mythologized, even by their detractors. ” Literally,” as Tucker Carlson might put it.

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Waleed K. Salem وليد سالم الشوبكي @waleedksalem.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Excellent, and overdue. Now the turn of other presidential hopefuls to serve fresh and necessary laws. ”Dynamic pricing“ is among capitalism’s most insidious inventions.

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